English Explanatory Dictionary

whip the cat

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To attempt to get work or money from someone who is too weak or poor to provide it.
  2. To practice extreme parsimony.
  3. To regret; to feel self-pity
  4. To blame someone for something that is not their fault.
  5. To get drunk.
  6. To go from house to house working by the day, as itinerant tailors and carpenters do.
  7. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see whip, cat.

Word forms

whip the cat whips the cat whipping the cat whipped the cat

Etymology

Originally from reference to a prank played on country bumpkins, in which they were encouraged to show their strength by whipping a cat that was harnessed to a load that was too heavy for it. This led to the sense of attempting to get more than can be provided, and by extension, to practice extreme parsimony. From there, it possibly evolved to the other senses, which tend to reflect the connotations of poverty and/or uselessness.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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